As a piano player, he formed a jazz trio in 1938 that played Los Angeles nightclubs, one of the first jazz trios featuring guitar and piano. Prior to this he had played music since he was a child and had worked with bands since he was sixteen. He was raised in Chicago and exposed to the abundant jazz scene there. He was heavily influenced by pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines.
Later he became more popularly known as a singer and crooner and his work became more orchestrated.
His first mainstream vocal hit was in 1944 with Straighten Up and Fly Right, based on a black folk tale that his father had used as a theme for a sermon. Although hardly a rocker, the song's success proved that an audience for folk-based material existed. It is considered a predecessor to the first rock and roll records. Indeed, Bo Diddley, who performed similar transformations of folk material, counted Cole as an influence.
Beginning in the late 1940s, Cole began recording and performing more pop-oriented material for mainstream audiences, often accompanied by a string orchestra. His stature as a popular icon was cemented during this period with such hits as The Christmas Song (1946), Nature Boy (1948), Mona Lisa (1950), and his signature tune Unforgettable (1951). While this shift to pop music led some jazz critics and fans to accuse Cole of selling out, he never totally abandoned his musical roots; as late as 1956, for instance, he recorded an all-jazz album, After Midnight. In 1991, Mosaic Records released the Complete Nat King Cole Trio Recordings on Capitol, which contained 349 songs on twenty-seven LPs or eighteen CDs.
Throughout the 1950s Cole continued to rack up hit after hit, including Smile, Pretend, A Blossom Fell, and If I May. Most of his pop hits were collaborations with famed arranger/conductor Nelson Riddle. It was with Riddle that Cole released his first ten-inch long-play album in 1953 entitled Sings for Two in Love. Several more albums followed, including the Gordon Jenkins arranged Love Is the Thing, which reached number one on the album charts in April 1957.
Inspired by a trip to Havana, Cuba in 1958, Nat went back there that same year and recorded Cole Espanol, an album sung entirely in Spanish and Portuguese. The album was a hit not only in the U.S., but in Latin America as well. The album was so popular, that two others followed: A mis amigos in 1959, and More Cole Espanol in 1962.
Musical tastes were changing in the late 1950s, and despite a successful stab at rock n' roll with Send for Me, Cole's ballad singing had grown old to younger listeners. Like contemporaries Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, Nat found that the pop singles chart had been almost entirely taken over by youth oriented acts. In 1960, Nat's longtime collaborator Nelson Riddle, left Capitol Records for Frank Sinatra's newly formed Reprise Records label. The two parted ways with one final hit album Wild Is Love, based on lyrics by Ray Rasch and Dotty Wayne. Nat would later re-tool the concept album into an off-Broadway production called I'm With You.
As the 1960s progressed, Nat once again found success on the American singles chart, starting with the country/pop flavored hit Ramblin' Rose in August of 1962. Three more hit singles followed: Dear Lonely Hearts, Those Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer, and That Sunday, That Summer. Nat's final album was entitled L.O.V.E, and was recorded in late 1964. It was released just prior to his death and reached number four on the Billboard Albums chart in the spring of 1965. A "Best Of" album went gold in 1968. His 1957 song When I Fall in Love was a chart topping hit for the U.K. in 1987.
Cole was the first African-American to have his own radio program. He repeated that success in the late-1950s with the first truly national television show starring an African-American. In both cases, the programs were ultimately canceled because sponsors shied away from a black artist. Cole fought racism all his life, refusing to perform in segregated venues. In 1956, he was attacked on stage in Birmingham, Alabama by members of the White Citizens' Council who apparently were attempting to kidnap him. Despite injuries, Cole completed the show but vowed never to perform in the South again.
On 23rd August 1956, Cole spoke at the Republican National Convention in the Cow Palace, San Francisco, California. He was also present at the Democratic National Convention in 1960, to throw his support behind President John F. Kennedy. Cole was also among the dozens of entertainers recruited by Frank Sinatra to perform at the Kennedy Inaugural gala in 1961. Nat King Cole frequently consulted with President Kennedy (and later President Johnson) on the issue of civil rights. Yet he was dogged by critics, who felt he shied away from controversy when it came to the civil rights issue. Among the most notable was Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, who was upset that Cole didn't take stronger action after the 1956 on-stage attack.
In 1948, Cole purchased a house in the all-white Hancock Park neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The property owners association told Cole they didn't want any undesirables moving in, to which Cole retorted "Neither do I. And if I see anybody undesirable coming in here, I'll be the first to complain."
He and his second wife, Maria Ellington, were married in Harlem's Abyssinian Baptist Church by Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. They had five children, including twin girls. Daughter Carol Cole, and son Kelly Cole were adopted. Kelly Cole died in 1995. Nat's daughter, Natalie Cole, and his younger brother, Freddie Cole are also singers.
Natalie and her father had an unexpected hit in the summer of 1991. The younger Cole mixed a 1961 recording of her father's rendition of Unforgettable with her own voice, creating an electronic duet. Both the song and the album of the same name won several Grammy awards the following year.
Cole performed in many short films, and played W. C. Handy in the film Saint Louis Blues. He also appeared in The Nat King Cole Story, China Gate, and The Blue Gardenia.
Nat King Cole was a heavy smoker of Kool menthol cigarettes, believing that smoking up to three packs a day gave his voice the rich sound it had (Cole would smoke several cigarettes in rapid succession before a recording for this very purpose). Cole died of lung cancer at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, California, on 15th February 1965. His funeral was held at St. Victor's Catholic Church in West Hollywood, and he was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Cat Ballou, his final film, was released several months later.
A Handful of Stars
Nat King Cole Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A night of love and glory
A night that left my heart romantic stars
We stood so near to heaven
That I reached clear to heaven
And gathered you a handful of stars
Sweet remembered hour
With moonlight through the trees like silver bars
And as the moon grew older
I reached across your shoulder
And gathered you a handful of stars
I place my fingertips upon your lips
The stars fell in your eyes
The moonglow made a halo of your hair
Suddenly you looked at me
And dreams began to rise
Oh what things unspoken trembled in the air
Our hearts were madly beating
And then our lips were meeting
And Venus seemed to melt right into Mars
Then while we stood caressing
Blue heaven sent a blessing
A shower of a handful of stars
Our hearts were madly beating
And then our lips were meeting
And Venus seemed to melt right into Mars
Then while we stood caressing
Blue heaven sent a blessing
A shower of a handful of stars
The lyrics of Nat King Cole's song "A Handful of Stars" describe a romantic night when two people fell deeply in love. The singer recalls the story of that night, when the moon's glow shining through the trees created a magical atmosphere. The two lovers stood so close to heaven that they reached out and gathered a handful of stars. The imagery of gathering stars symbolizes the intensity of their love and how they felt like they were capable of achieving anything they desired.
The lyrics also depict the passion and desire between the two lovers. As they embraced, the stars fell in their eyes and the moonlight made a halo around their hair. They did not need to speak because unspoken things were trembling in the air. When their lips finally met, it felt like Venus (the goddess of love) melted right into Mars (the Roman god of war). The shower of stars that followed was seen as a blessing from the heavens, emphasizing the transcendent nature of their love.
Overall, the song conveys a sense of incredible closeness and intimacy between two people who have found true love. The imagery of stars, moonlight, and heavenly blessings all symbolize the depth and power of their connection.
Line by Line Meaning
I recall a story
I have a memory of a particular event.
A night of love and glory
An amazing romantic night.
A night that left my heart romantic stars
The night was so memorable that I can still feel its romantic impact on me.
We stood so near to heaven
Spending time with you made me feel like we were close to heaven.
That I reached clear to heaven
I felt like I was close to heaven that I could reach out and touch it.
And gathered you a handful of stars
I wanted to give you something special and precious, so I gathered a handful of stars for you.
Sweet remembered hour
A cherished moment that I can still vividly remember.
When love began to flower
The moment when our love started to grow and blossom.
With moonlight through the trees like silver bars
The moonlight shining through the trees looked like bars of silver.
And as the moon grew older
As time passed and the moon became more full.
I reached across your shoulder
I touched you gently, showing my affection and love for you.
And gathered you a handful of stars
As a symbol of my love for you, I gathered you a handful of stars.
I place my fingertips upon your lips
I touched your lips gently with my fingertips.
The stars fell in your eyes
My gesture caused your eyes to sparkle and shine like stars.
The moonglow made a halo of your hair
The moonlight illuminated your hair, making it appear as if you had a halo around your head.
Suddenly you looked at me
You turned to look at me suddenly.
And dreams began to rise
My affectionate touch and your reaction caused us both to feel hopeful and optimistic about the future.
Oh what things unspoken trembled in the air
There was a lot of unexpressed emotion hanging in the air, waiting to be acknowledged and discussed.
Our hearts were madly beating
We were excited and passionate about our love for each other.
And then our lips were meeting
We shared a romantic and intimate kiss.
And Venus seemed to melt right into Mars
Our love was so strong that it seemed as if even the planets could feel it and move closer to each other.
Then while we stood caressing
As we continued to touch and show affection for each other.
Blue heaven sent a blessing
It felt like the universe was on our side, and we were blessed to have found each other.
A shower of a handful of stars
As if to reinforce this feeling, the universe sent a literal shower of stars down upon us.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JACK LAWRENCE, TED SHAPIRO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
john
on A Blossom Fell
i want the song" I'll never settle for less" lyrics,would somebody be so kind to give it to me?